Nasrallah sorry for scale of war

Nasrallah sorry for scale of war
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5291420.stm

Nasrallah ordered the capture of the soldiers on 12 July
Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has said he would not have
ordered the capture of two Israeli soldiers if he had known it would
lead to such a war.

"Had we known that the kidnapping of the soldiers would have led to
this, we would definitely not have done it," he said in an interview
on Lebanese TV.

He added that neither side was "heading towards a second round" of
fighting.

More than 1,000 Lebanese died in the 34-day conflict which left much
of southern Lebanon in ruins.

The Israeli offensive began after two Israeli soldiers were seized
during a cross border raid by Hezbollah militants on 12 July.

Annan visit

"We did not think that there was a 1% chance that the kidnapping would
lead to a war of this scale and magnitude," Sheikh Nasrallah said.

"Now you ask me if this was 11 July and there was a 1% chance that the
kidnapping would lead to a war like the one that has taken place,
would you go ahead with the kidnapping?

"I would say no, definitely not, for humanitarian, moral, social,
security, military and political reasons.


Many thousands have been left homeless by the offensive
"Neither I, Hezbollah, prisoners in Israeli jails and nor the families
of the prisoners would accept it."

Sheikh Nasrallah was speaking on the eve of a visit to Beirut by
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to discuss the expanded UN
peacekeeping force to be deployed in southern Lebanon.

A force of 15,000 soldiers, 7,000 of them from European Union states,
will be deployed to maintain the fragile ceasefire between Israel and
Hezbollah.

The UN hopes to have some of the troops on the ground within a week,
although the foreign minister of Finland - which currently holds the
EU presidency - has said it will be two to three months before the
whole force is deployed.

The force will be led by France until February, at which time Italy
will take command.

Speaking in Brussels on Friday, Mr Annan said the plan would only work
if the enlarged UN force, called Unifil 2, was "strong, credible and
robust".

Mr Annan said the force offered the possibility of a "durable
ceasefire and long-term solution" to the Middle East crisis.



--
"Science is the record of dead religions." -- Oscar Wilde

"There are no absolute certainties in this universe. A man must try to
whip order into a yelping pack of probabilities, and uniform success is
impossible." -- Jack Vance

"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.

"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography" -- Ambrose Bierce

"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant

Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMverizon.net

Nasrallah sorry for scale of war
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5291420.stm

Nasrallah ordered the capture of the soldiers on 12 July
Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has said he would not have
ordered the capture of two Israeli soldiers if he had known it would
lead to such a war.